To minister is to serve, or act as a subordinate agent. So a ministering angel is a kind-hearted person, providing help and comfort.
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A ministering angel shall my sister be
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I've found a slightly earlier cite than the commonly-given one, but it still puts it as an American phrase: "Ps and Qs" by C. & E.B. Gil, published by Bowles & Dearborn in 1828,…
Dear Editor, FYI, I grew up in the 1950s and 60s in northern Indiana and always knew the phrase to be "split image" or "splitting image," usually the former. It was later in my…
Here is another phrase erroneously attributed to Shakespeare. We find a much earlier citation in a 1579 translation of the sermons of John Calvin: "I pray you, ought not all the…
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From the Phrase Finder Digest
- The Silly Season Has Its Own Phrasebook Of Nonsense
Late summer is when British newspapers traditionally run thin on real news and thick on odd ones, a stretch known as the silly season. The phrases we reach for to describe that filler, and the stories it produces, have their own overlooked histories.
7 August 2026
- We Are In The Dog Days. They Have Nothing To Do With Dogs
Late July is when Britain reaches for the phrase 'dog days'. The Romans who coined it were not thinking about exhausted labradors on hot pavements.
22 July 2026
Based on Google Books usage over the last ~25 years. Refreshes each build.
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- Meaning Cry wolf To raise a false alarm, especially repeatedly, so that people stop believing a warning even when it turns out to be true.
- Meaning New York minute A very short space of time, used to describe something happening with startling speed.
- Meaning Uncle Tom A black person regarded as servile or excessively deferential towards white people, especially one seen as betraying their own community for favour with those in power.
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- Meaning Brown bread Cockney rhyming slang for 'dead', used to say that someone has died.
- Meaning Code monkey A pejorative term for a computer programmer, especially one who is assigned simple, repetitive coding work rather than more creative or senior tasks.
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Phrases.org.uk has been documenting the meaning and origin of phrases, sayings and idioms since 1997. Every entry is researched and written by Gary Martin, with citations to the earliest printed use we can find.
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